


Once More With Feeling

by happygolovely



Category: Gotham (TV)
Genre: Blood and Gore, Body Horror, Dark, Disturbing Themes, Dreamscapes, Hallucinations, Heavy Angst, M/M, Mirrors, Nightmares, Psychological Horror, Psychological Trauma, Unhappy Ending, Unhealthy Relationships
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2018-01-19
Updated: 2018-01-19
Packaged: 2019-03-06 19:46:01
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 1
Words: 1,140
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/13418364
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/happygolovely/pseuds/happygolovely
Summary: "Remember when you said you would change?""A man facing death will do anything to save his skin." Oswald smiles. "I wonder what you will say."





	Once More With Feeling

“From the top!”

 

Oswald stands at the center of the Iceberg lounge as Ed melts at his feet. Desperately gasping for air, drowning on dry land.He reaches out for Oswald and he kicks his hands away.

 

“Oh, I am sorry were you trying to say something? I couldn't hear you over that suit you're wearing. The color honestly, have you learned nothing from your time with me?”

 

Ed heaves through corrupted lungs.Oswald snaps his fingers and the ice around his tongue melts. “Speak up, my dearest. Let me hear you.” Ed spits in his face.

 

Oswald laughs and wipes the spit off his cheek with the back of his glove. He takes it off and wrings it dry. Slaps him across the face with it. Takes the other off with his teeth and throws them at Ed’s feet.

 

Gauntlets.

 

“Now _there’s_ the man I love. I was beginning to wonder where you went. That spirit of yours. Firm, unconquerable. So like my own. I wonder what it will take to get you to break for me, sing for me.”

 

Grits his teeth.“Remember when you said you would change.”

 

“A man facing death will say anything to save his skin.” Oswald smiles. “I wonder what you will say.”

 

“Nothing. That's what you'll get and that's what you are. Not to me, not to anyone.”

 

Oswald tsks at him, disappointed but not surprised. He gestured vaguely to the universe in general, as if it will commend him for putting up with this. “Is that any way to treat an old friend? After everything I’ve done for you. You should be grateful.”

“After everything you've done you should be dead.”

 

“Let's not quibble over should and should nots. Wouldn't want to spoil the mood. Now, where were we? Ah yes this is where you beg for me, baby. Beg me to spare that pretty little head of yours.“ He tucks a finger under his chin, tilts it up. “Go on then, give us a good show. Don't be shy now.”

 

Ed drones as if he's reading from the phone book.“Oh Oswald you're so powerful, oh Oswald you're so strong.” Eyes roll back in his head, lets out a breathy sigh. “Ooooh Oswald you're so bi-”

 

“ENOUGH!” Oswald screeches. Hands shaking as he leans against the bar. Runs his fingers through his hair, trying to collect himself. Turns back with a smile. Claps slowly. “Bravo. Time for an encore.”

 

Flicks his wrist and the lights go out. Ed finds himself on stage under a red spotlight, dressed in a black tuxedo and top hat. Hands chained to a piano, he plays on and on. Fingers bleeding. Oswald lounges on top of the piano, white rose in hand. He plucks petals, lets them fall in Ed’s face. “Loves me, loves me not - does it really matter? You're mine at the end of it all.“ He arches his back and sighs. “Still it would be nice to hear it. A man gets insecure from time to time.”

 

Ed plays on a roaring in his ears, water on every inch of him. The keys are slippery with sea water and blood and he fights to hold on. The song frantic and fanatical, desperately lurching to its awful inevitable climax. Mouth full of thorns. Spits out petals, white stained red. Oswald reaches into his heart and pulls out the wine. Blood dripping into the glass, he drinks deep. He wipes blood off his mouth with the back of his hand, sucks the moisture off his fingers. Mouth red, teeth sharp. “You taste even better than I thought you would.”

 

Ed collapses against the keys. A gaping hole in his chest where his heart should be. Songbirds fly into it and build a nest of his bones. Eyes hollowed out and lifeless. The birds come pluck them out of his head and bring them into Oswald's hands. He rolls them over, turning them up into the light inspecting the quality.

 

“Those eyes of yours could drive a man to madness, do you know that? It's the color I think. Staring into the abyss and the abyss stares back.” He tucks the eyeballs into a case and puts them in his pocket.

 

Ed says nothing, calcifying. Turning to stone and crystal. Ice hardens underneath his skin and it cracks revealing the tundra underneath. Barren wasteland. His mouth falls open, teeth made of glass, tongue made of velvet. Oswald coaxes the tongue out of his mouth and it crawls over to him across the piano. “We could have had such fun, you and I.” It wiggles like a worm. “I know, I know it's not your fault. I don't blame you. He's difficult.” It seems content with this and chases around Oswald's fingers playful licking at him. Oswald laughs. “Naughty thing. You know I half expected you to be made of silver. Should have known better. You're much too gentle for that.”

 

He sighs. “Playtime is over, Eddie. Time to wake up.”

 

Ed snaps to attention at once. He stands in a hall of mirrors. Everywhere he looks he sees himself. Himself and Oswald. The image distorted and disturbing. They are wrapped around each other, fists in hair and teeth clashing. Oswald turns to look at Ed, the other one moves his face into Oswald’s neck and bites down. Oswald groans, eyes locked on the real Ed. “Come join us. You're looking lonely.”

 

The other Ed grins at him. Eyes completely black. “He's a handful this one. I could use some help.”

 

Ed tears at his hair. “I don't want this, you don't know what you're saying.”

 

They laugh.“You know I think he actually believes that?” “Kind of sad really.”

 

“Let me go.” He begs them.

 

Oswald presses his hand up against the glass. Ed reaches out and lays his own up against the other side. Oswald’s smile full of heartache. “I’m not the one keeping you here.”

 

Ed smashes his fist against the glass and it shatters, a crack right through Oswald’s smile. All the mirrors shatter and glass rains down on him, cutting through his skin. Oswald flickers back into existence, the other Ed still wrapped behind him. Ed's nose pressed into his hair. Smile bright as a supernova. He has never seen himself so happy.

 

“This could be yours. He's yours. Why won't you take him?”

 

“He won't have me, not anymore. Not after everything we've done to each other. We're poison together.”

 

Shakes his head. “We're the antivenom. Tell me the truth. You know as well as I do.”

 

“Miss you, need you, lo-”

 

“Don't say it here. Say it to me out there - you need to know that it's real. See you on the other side, my love.”

 

He vanishes into the ether. Ed wakes up in ice.

 

“From the top!”

**Author's Note:**

> companion piece to sleep perchance.  
> tumblr:happygoloony


End file.
